Product Description

The Closing of the American Mind, a publishing phenomenon in hardcover, is now a paperback literary event. In this acclaimed number one national best-seller, one of our country's most distinguished political philosophers argues that the social/political crisis of 20th-century America is really an intellectual crisis. Allan Bloom's sweeping analysis is essential to understanding America today. It has fired the imagination of a public ripe for change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17596 in Books
• Published on: 1988-05-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This work by a University of Chicago professor was a bestseller in cloth. According to PW, "marred by the author's biases, this jeremiad laments the decay of the humanities, the decline of the family and students' spiritual rootlessness and unconnectedness to traditions."
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Bloom is angry about college studentstolerant of everything, they cannot appreciate the virtues of Lockean democracy and often abandon the great questions about God and man. Meanwhile, the humanities are like "a refugee camp where all the geniuses driven out of their jobs and countries . . . are idling." The reason is partly relativism in the social sciences but largely German philosophers since Nietzsche, especially Heidegger, who "put philosophy at the service of German culture." Bloom's case about the humanities and German philosophy deserves an ear, but his students from "the twenty or thirty best U.S. universities" are nothing like my recent American students, who pursue the old questions with vim and vigor. Perhaps they do not belong to Bloom's elite. Leslie Armour, Philosophy Dept., Univ. of Ottawa, Canada
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This provocative book by professor Allan Bloom laments the decay of the humanities, the decline of universities, and the spiritual rootlessness and un-connectedness to traditions of today's students. The author's intelligence and passion about his subject are strongly conveyed through Christopher Hurt's lilting reading. Hurt's tenor voice is clear and compelling, and he uses appropriate inflection. Tape markings are good; pace and sound are consistent throughout. Hurt's reading is an effective way to absorb the book. He seems to draw you into deep conversation, discussing the concepts with you, rather than leaving you to struggle over them. If only we had the opportunity to argue! J.A.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Makes his points well, but exposes some serious intellectual blind spots
Bloom makes a compelling case for embracing, through study, Western Civilization in general, and the Great Books in particular. He also does a good job of showing how today's universities exalt the natural sciences - which address only the material aspect of existence - while neglecting, to man's and society's peril, the social sciences and humanities, which speak to the immaterial aspects of existence.

In the course of making his case Bloom refers to Moses as a myth, or if not the man Moses, then certainly the story of him securing the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai. At the same time Bloom acknowledges the great contribution of Moses, likening it to those contributions made my Aristotle, Socrates, or Shakespere.

Now, this is interesting logic for such an exalted intellectual as Bloom. He liken Moses to Aristotle, Socrates, and Shakespere but seems untroubled by the fact that one of them - Moses - claimed to receive what he passed down to humanity directly from God, even in face to face interaction. Neither Aristotle, Socrates or Shakespere made any such claim. If they had, wouldn't that change Bloom's opinion of those men - probably for the worse? Truth and deception have nothing in common. How would it be possible for a pathological liar to also provide man with some of the greatest moral truths ever known: "Thou shalt not steal"; "Thou shalt not murder"; "Thou shalt not bear false testimony"? How could a man who could speak this last mentioned commandment, at the same time be so out of touch with reality that he would state that he got the commandments from God? Even if it were possible that such a blend of truth and lies could reside with a man, why would Bloom venerate him?

Furthermore, Bloom convieniently shies away from calling the person, Jesus of Nazareth, a myth (a much harder case to make, even for natural sciences), and Bloom makes no attempt to account for the new paradigm erected by Jesus, especially at the Sermon-on-the-Mount. If Moses' apparently invented moral laws seem noble, if not mythically quaint, to Bloom, if Bloom were alive today would he be prepared to say the same things about Jesus's utterances in the Sermon-on-the-Mount?

Which of the following are quaint mythical statements, as likely fabricated by the mind of man as by God?

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. "

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Here again, we have the problem? If Jesus did say those things, so full of truth, how could he also tell the Samaritan women at the well:

"I who speak to you am he." (John 4:26)

after she made mention of the Messiah, if it were not true?

It is sad to see how intransigence toward the God of the Bible can make a muddle out of intellectual acumen.

Book review:
This book was suggested for me to read by a friend. It was a cumbersome read about 400 some odd pages and I knocked it out in a few weeks.

Harold Bloom goes to great lengths salivating over the works of brilliant thinkers of the past. Ancient Philosophers such as Socrates 399BC, Plato 347 BC, Aristotle 332 BC and Cicero 43 BC are referenced often. More modern thinkers, philosophers and writers such as Machiavelli, 1527 AD, Descartes 1650 AD, Locke 1704 AD, Goethe 1832 AD, Nietzsche 1900 AD, are also sited often as well.

Bloom comes across as a conflicted agnostic, not wanting to embrace the ideal of intrinsic value in human beings, but not totally dismissing the ideal either. He plays it safe, acknowledging that human beings may have a soul, but stops there by making no conclusions, because in the end he really can't.

He wants excellence back in college education but offers no real remedy to get there; he only laments the ill effects of post modernism, nihilism and other soul less characteristics of present day academia. Bloom seems to have great compunction for having no solutions within his grasp. He elucidates nothing in his 400 pages; he almost like a professor who loves to hear himself speak, (think Ben Stine character in Ferris Bueller movie), but much more of an self ennobling, aristocratic, intellectual with a splendid command of the English language. Bloom has an impious, intransigent view for the believers in Deity, which I think leaves him coming up short in all his postulations. He is masterful at polemics and seems to find vigor and great joy in ruffling feathers. In the end a call to action or a conclusion to all the problems Bloom raises is untenable. It seems that he trusts in the opinions of the finite, i.e.-men, philosophers of the world, when truth is eternal and springs from our Creator, which he is loathe to approach......much less acknowledge.

In conclusion the best and most telling quote found very early in the book is here:

"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."
Socrates

And this quote is what Blooms seems to hang his hat on, gaining his readers nothing.

Important Critique of the University
Philosopher Allan Bloom's groundbreaking book, "The Closing of the American Mind," skillfully describes what has gone wrong with the university. Stuck in relativism and leaving behind the great thinkers of the past, the modern university has drifted from any sort of moorings and is in the process of decomposition. I most enjoyed the first section of the book. The second half of the book is more dense and a knowledge of Plato, Nietzsche, Hegel, Rousseau, Heidegger, etc., is recommended for a full comprehension of the subject. The argument in this book is still very timely even though it is over 20 years old.